Recordings

Veretski Pass with Joel Rubin. The Peacock and the Sunflower, 2024 (Borscht Beat Records) The Peacock and the Sunflower is the third collaborative project between Veretski Pass and Joel Rubin, a deep exploration of the centuries of musical interactions between Jews and Ukrainians. The peacock and the sunflower are important symbols of ethnic and national importance to East European Jews and Ukrainians, respectively. In Yiddish songs and literary works, the mythical golden peacock (goldene pave) symbolized the wistfulness of youthful days gone by and the eternal optimism, triumphant spirit of the Jews, and perhaps most importantly, a symbol of Yiddish folk culture itself – alive wherever Yiddish is spoken. In Ukraine, the sunflower is the national flower, representing the warmth and power of the sun. Since the start of the…

Veretski Pass with Joel Rubin. The Magid Chronicles, 2019 (Golden Horn GHP 041-2) Centered around music collected by Sofia Magid, a musicologist and ethnographer who worked intensively to document Jewish music in Belarus and Ukraine during the Stalinist regime of the 1920s and 30s. Veretski Pass and Joel Rubin’s work involves cleaning, deciphering and transcribing the transfers from the original wax cylinders, then arranging, performing and recording them, and finally teaching them to workshop students. An important facet of the project is a group of new compositions, improvisations, and re-compositions derived from and/or inspired by the Magid collection and drawing on traditions and cultures as diverse as Romanian, Turkish, Greek, and Hutsul traditions. Although derived largely from ethnographic work, this work is essentially a creative re-imagination of the material. “a…

Veretski Pass with Joel Rubin. Poyln: A Gilgul (Poland: A Metamorphosis), 2015 (Golden Horn GHP 040-2) Venturing beyond the known Horas, Freylekhs, Bulgars and Shers of Moldova, Ukraine and Russia, Veretski Pass and their guest, Joel Rubin, mine the obereks, kujawiaks, krakowiaks and polkas of Poland, the land that was once home to three million Jews.  Inspired by the 1901 story, A Gilgul Fun a Nign (Metamorphosis of a Melody), written by Polish Jewish author I.L. Peretz, the repertoire draws from previously unknown Hassidic tunes, country dances, contemporary and 19th century ethnographic collections as well as from field research of the musicians and their colleagues.  Drawing on these sources, Veretski Pass and Joel Rubin have re-imagined, re-composed and re-arranged old urban and rural music to enrich the genre currently known as klezmer…

UVA Klezmer Ensemble under the direction of Joel Rubin. Let’s Dance, 2014 A project developed at the University of Virginia with support from the Mead Endowment Honored Faculty Award. Download only: http://uvaklezmerensemble.bandcamp.com/releases

Joel Rubin and Uri Caine. Azoy tsu tsveyt, 2011 (Tzadik TZA-CD-8163)  “When Rubin and keyboardist Uri Caine dive deep into the music they plunge into a deep and wide ocean of sonic possibilities. On the one hand, Rubin’s clarinet work is gorgeously ornamental on top of already melancholy phrases. He builds statements so deftly you hardly notice the asymmetry of what he’s doing”(Improv & Avant-Garde 2011: 10 Favourites, exclaim.ca) Azoy tsu tsveyt

Joel Rubin Ensemble featuring Rabbi Eli Silberstein. The Nign of Reb Mendel, 2020 (Traditional Crossroads CD 4342) “By combining authentic Chassidic paraliturgical texts and niggunim (folk melodies) with the sound of traditional klezmer music—and more specifically, by integrating a Hassidic singer as a member of the klezmer ensemble, Joel Rubin has created something rather unique in the world of Jewish music... ‘The Nign of Reb Mendel’ is an outstanding recorded example of musical tikkun; that is, opening up the outer shell of the song through music in order to release the holy spark of the music”(Aaron Howard, www.byaaronhoward.com) Nign of Reb Mendel

Joel Rubin Ensemble. Midnight Prayer, 2007 (Traditional Crossroads CD 4332) The Joel Rubin Ensemble continues its meditation on the Russian-Jewish musical legacy, which it began with the 1997 release, Beregovski’s Khasene (Beregovski’s Wedding, Wergo). The ensemble brings together some of the world’s greatest improvising musicians to explore how Jewish music could sound at the beginning of the 21st century – music from another time and place, but thoroughly grounded in the present. It features Hungarian cimbalom virtuoso Kálmán Balogh, Italian accordion wizard Claudio Jacomucci and star violinist David Chernyavsky, along with Ferenc Kovács (trumpet), Csaba Novák (bass), Sándor Budai (second violin) and Pete Rushefsky (tsimbl). One of the eight best recordings of 2007: “Rubin is in fine form throughout, but particularly electrifying on the niggunim ... where he weeps with the best of them”(George Robinson, Jewish Week, Jan. 2, 2008,…

Joel Rubin. Hungry Hearts: Classic Yiddish Clarinet Solos of the 1920s, 1998 (SM 1615-2) [Remastered and re-edited version of cassette originally released as Joel Rubin Klezmer Band: Brave Old World, 1988] CD out of print; available as download only “A klezmer classic ... an important album to have in one’s collection” (Jewish Herald-Voice) “Rubin is meanwhile the undisputed mentor of the American New Klezmer Revival. And rightly so, as proved by Hungry Hearts, on which Rubin is accompanied by leaders of the genre. In contrast to many ... attempts to approach klezmer in an innovative way, here one finds ‘soul.’ No academic demonstration of virtuosity, but rather a natural, living music which obviously imparts as good a time to listeners as it did to the musicians themselves”(Westzeit 7/98)Download

Joel Rubin Jewish Music Ensemble. Beregovski’s Khasene (Beregovski’s Wedding): Forgotten Instrumental Treasures from the Ukraine, 1997 (SM 1614-2) CD out of print; available as download only “unique” (Spiegel Extra) “absolutely first-class” (Gramophone) “[Rubin is] the true heir of the legendary klezmorim... The musicians are talented ensemble players who intuitively understand each other in an instant. ... this is music-making for the sake of the music!”(Jewish Daily Forward, New York) “highly recommended for listeners out to explore the roots of this soulful and exhilarating music”(Richmond Times-Dispatch) “superb clarinet playing ... his ornamented style repays intensive listening” (Jewish Quarterly) “without a doubt, Rubin’s newest recording belongs to the most striking and noble publications of klezmer music”(Tobias Shklover, Dos Yiddishe Vort, Warsaw) Download

Joel Rubin and the Epstein Brothers. Zeydes un Eyniklekh (Grandfathers and Grandsons): Jewish-American Wedding Music from the Repertoire of Dave Tarras, 1995 (SM 1610-2) “Forget Mendelssohn if you’re looking for the ultimate disc of joyful wedding music”(Boston Phoenix) “For everyone interested in this Jewish traditional music [this album is] essential – and I write that most emphatically!” (Derek Reid, Folk Roots) “This is ‘traditional’ klezmer music played by people who live it ... the Jewish equivalent of BB King and Buddy Guy and Junior Wells holding a summit” (Ari Davidow, www.klezmershack.com) “A must have. It couldn’t be more traditional than this – and probably also not better” (Musikblatt) Zeydes